Serbia: 2011 a crucial year for the country's future accession to the EU

2011. 06. 16.

"We regard 2011 a crucial year for Serbia and urge the Serbian Government to fulfil all the necessary criteria for establishing all the bases for the Commission's avis. We support Serbia in obtaining EU candidate status during the Polish Presidency of the Council of the EU, as well as setting a date for the accession negotiations in 2012", wrote 6 EPP Group MEPs belonging to the Visegrad Plus Initiative in a statement sent today to Catherine Ashton, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Stefan Füle, EU Enlargement Commissioner, and the President of the Republic of Serbia, Boris Tadić.

"The detention of Ratko Mladić has shown the credibility of the Serbian authorities and their commitment to reconciliation and regional stability. [...] We believe that decisive steps towards European integration are likely to speed up interior reforms in the country, its cooperation with the ICTY and facilitate democratisation and reconciliation processes in the Western Balkans", state Jacek Saryusz-Wolski (Poland), György Schöpflin (Hungary), Andrey Kovatchev (Bulgaria), Eduard Kukan (Slovakia), Jan Březina (Czech Republic) and Traian Ungureanu (Romania) in the letter.

The Visegrad Plus Initiative was launched and is led by Members of the European Parliament from the Group of the European People's Party representing six countries of the region - Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.

Letter to Catherine Ashton and Stefan Füle
Letter to President Boris Tadić
Visegrad Plus Initiative: Statement on Serbia